Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common, non-traumatic cause of neurological disability in young adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of HLA class II alleles DRB1* and DQB1* on susceptibility to relapsing-remitting (RR) MS and response to interferon (IFN) β-1a treatment. A prospective observational study was conducted. Seventeen patients with clinically definite RRM...

BACKGROUND The HLA genes, located in the MHC region on chromosome 6p21.3, play an important role in many autoimmune disorders, such as celiac disease (CD), type 1 diabetes (T1D), rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and others. Known HLA variants that confer risk to CD, for example, include DQA1*05/DQB1*02 (DQ2.5) and DQA1*03/DQB1*0302 (DQ8). To diagnose the majority of CD patien...

BACKGROUND Several studies have demonstrated a fundamental role for the histocompatibility antigens (ie, human leukocyte antigens or HLA) in the susceptibility of, or protection to, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). However, this has not been adequately studied in racially admixtured populations. OBJECTIVES To assess the frequency of HLA class II (DQA1, DQB1 and DRB1) associated to susceptibil...

Approximately 5-10% of individuals, who are vaccinated with a hepatitis B (HB) vaccine designed based on the HBV genotype C, fail to acquire protective levels of antibodies. Here, host genetic factors behind low immune response to this HB vaccine were investigated by a genome wide association study (GWAS) and HLA association tests. A GWAS and HLA association tests were carried out using a total...

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease in the small intestine triggered by gluten uptake that occurs in genetically susceptible individuals. HLA-DQ2 protein encoded by HLA-DQA1*05 and DQB1*02 alleles is found in 90-95% of CD patients. All of the remaining patients carry HLA-DQ8 protein encoded by HLA-DQA1*03 and DQB1*03:02 alleles. Specific HLA-DQ genotypes define different risk ...

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a common central nervous system inflammatory disease, has a major heritable component. Susceptibility is associated with the MHC class II region, especially HLA-DRB5*0101-HLA-DRB1*1501-HLA-DQA1*0102-HLA-DQB1*0602 haplotypes(hereafter DR2), which dominate genetic contribution to MS risk. Marked linkage disequilibrium (LD) among these loci makes identification of a specif...

Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID) is an antibody deficiency syndrome that often co-occurs in families with selective IgA deficiency (IgAD). This study was designed to investigate the frequency of DR and DQ loci of HLA class II region in common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) patients. Fifteen Iranian patients with CVID or IgAD (mean age 14.6±5.4, range 4-25 years; 9 male and 6 female) an...

The present study demonstrated genetic analysis of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) in a familial Graves' disease linked to autoimmune mechanism. The proband was a 17 year-old female. At 15 years, Graves' disease was diagnosed with serum TSH was <0.015 IU/ml; free T(3), 13.6 pg/ml; free T(4), 4.51 ng/dl; and TSH receptor antibody (TRAb), 94.1%. She had two brothers (19 and 13 years-old), who manif...

Chronic hepatitis (CH) is common in dogs in the United Kingdom. An increased prevalence of the disease is seen in the English Springer spaniel (ESS), and this breed suffer from a severe form with young to middle aged female dogs being predisposed. The disease shares histological features with those of human viral hepatitis, although the specific aetiological agent has not yet been identified. T...

BACKGROUND A close association between narcolepsy and the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-DQB1*0602 allele suggests the involvement of the immune system, or possibly an autoimmune process. We investigated serum IgG levels in narcolepsy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We measured the serum total IgG levels in 159 Japanese narcolepsy-cataplexy patients positive for the HLA-DQB1*0602 allele, 28 id...